


Learning Lines

by haydenhoe



Category: Star Wars, kylux - Fandom
Genre: Boarding School AU, General Hux - Freeform, Hux - Freeform, Hux/Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylux - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:10:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6824317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haydenhoe/pseuds/haydenhoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kylo Ren is a new student at the First Order Academy, and the snooty Head Boy Hux is forced to look after him. Expect school play mishaps and a rat also named Hux!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is cowritten by my friend Grace (gingerspacebuns on Tumblr)
> 
> Leave a comment to tell us what you think! :-)

School AU

At 5:30 am precisely, Armitage Hux Jr awoke from his deep sleep. He had gone to bed far too late the previous night. He straightened the sheets with practised meticulousness, so that not one crease remained. Other students were most likely scrolling through endless monotonous streams of social media, using internet paid for by their rich families, who had also paid for them to attend the First Order Academy.

Not Hux. He had worked night and day to attain a scholarship here. Sure, his family were more well off than most, but they most definitely didn't flaunt it like these kids families did, rolling up to the school in solid gold cars and helicopters and such. 

He gathered his things and made his way to the communal boys bathrooms/shower. They were empty save for one or two boys who had the same idea as Hux and were showering as early as possible to avoid the morning rush. 

After a blissfully warm shower (one of the upsides of waking up early was that Hux got to savour the hot water, as opposed to the icy sprays the stragglers had to endure), Hux was quick in brushing his teeth and washing his face. He took a little more time with his hair, combing it so that not one strand was out of place.

He hurried back upstairs and changed from his grey pyjamas into his school uniform, a black blazer adorned with the First Order logo over a pressed white shirt, grey trousers, complete with a red and black striped tie. He slipped on his black polished shoes and put away his pyjamas. 

He retrieved his prize badge from the bedside table and pinned it carefully to his blazer, the words Head Boy standing out against the charcoal fabric. Hux was extremely proud of his position, as his father had been Head Boy during his time at the school, as had his father before him. 

He gave a smirk, as his favourite part of the day had begun. It was time to wake up the other students. Today it was his duty to rouse the Year 8 boys, the most annoying group in the entire school. They were always the ones to start trouble, they were the loudest and most obnoxious. 

He strolled down the red carpeted stairs, clutching the banister. He reached the Year 8 boys' dorms, a long corridor of doors, all containing tempestuous tired creatures. 

Hux began to rap sharply on each door, doleing out random threats, such as  
"Get up or else!"  
"I swear if you don't get up right now I will confiscate your god forsaken mobile phone!"  
His personal favourite: "Get up or so help me I will put you on cleaning duties for a month you little shit!" was used for the most testing dorm room, who called themselves 'The Resistance'. Hux thought it a frivolous name, but the kids certainly were annoying, calling him 'General Ginger' and using every possible moment to test his patience. 

A muffled "Fuck off!" was heard from inside. Hearing this, Hux calmly opened the door and walked into the room. The dorm was filthy, dirty clothes everywhere and screwed up sheets on unmade beds. Hux wrinkled his nose in disgust. With much protestation and whining from the boys, he went around the room, collecting mobile phones from each bedside table. There were five in total, though he suspected one or two boys had backup phones sneakily hidden beneath their pillow. 

Hux left the room, but before closing the door, he couldn't resist saying "Don't cross me again, little twats." 

He slipped the phones into his pocket, and made his way down to the dining hall, pushing past the streams of people hurrying towards the bathrooms. 

The dining hall was sparsely populated, although soon it would be full to bursting. Hux took one of the many cereal boxes lined up on the lengthy tables, and poured himself a bowl of Cheerios. He picked up a spoon and began to eat the dry cereal. He hated milk in cereal. 

"How many phones have you confiscated this morning?" he heard a voice quip behind him. He turned round and and held up the five confiscated mobiles.  
"Damn." said Phasma, flicking the short blonde hair out of her eyes.  
"Yeah, they're from the Resistance twats. Not as good as last week though; I confiscated sixteen in two days!" Hux said, a smile creeping into his face. 

"I haven't taken any today, the girls have been oddly well behaved this week." Phasma said. She was the Girls Prefect, not as high a position as Hux's but she'd earned the nickname of Captain. The Head Girl was a snooty prick named Shalissa, and Hux hated her. She was only head girl because her daddy was rich and she was popular. Hux avoided speaking to her whenever possible. 

Girls and boys were separated in dorms, but throughout the day they had lessons together and were free to mingle during breaks. As Head Boy, it was Hux's job to break apart any inappropriate activity between them. By what he had seen, he was scarred for life.

Phasma was Hux's only real friend. She took PE, and was pretty jacked, so along with her height and Hux's general atmosphere of 'I'm fucking scary", kids would scatter out of their way if they went anywhere together. 

"Hey, Snoke wants to see you." she said, as if suddenly remembering.  
"Again? What's it this time?" Hux moaned.  
"Probably wants to tell you stop eating dry cereal, it's weird."  
"For the last time it's not weird, Phasma!" Hux sighed, exasperated.  
"Yeah, yeah. He wants to see you because apparently there's a new kid you need to babysit?" she said.  
"Oh, brilliant. Can you tell Mr Tekka I'll be late for Maths? Thanks." said Hux.  
"Sure thing, and also, apparently this kid is a Yank. And super fucking emo." she smiled, sauntering away.  
"Bloody amazing." Hux muttered to himself. 

After finishing his bowl, Hux pushed through the herds of students swarming the tables, talking at unbelievable volumes, so that Hux could clearly hear everything that was going on in their petty little lives. 

He weaved through the convoluted web of corridors until he reached Headmaster Snoke's office, a large, dark room adorned with various trophies, although they were barely visible due to the thick curtains that were drawn, blocking out most all light. Not that it was ever really light in Britain anyway. 

Headmaster Snoke sat regally in his large chair behind the unnecessarily huge wooden desk. Perched awkwardly on the edge of a much smaller, plastic chair in front of it was the new kid. He sat sideways, so that he was facing neither Snoke nor Hux. One leg was tucked under the chair, the other straight. 

He must have been about in year twelve, or perhaps year eleven. He looked tall, perhaps not quite as tall as Phasma, but taller than Hux himself. It was difficult to tell from a sitting position. 

He was also what Hux called 'one of those 'it's not a phase mom' kids'. Black jeans, black shirt, black boots. Bracelets. If it wasn't for the long strands of black hair falling over his face, Hux thought that he was probably also wearing eyeliner. 

'This is Kylo Ren.' Said Mr Snoke,  
his aged voice cracking. Students often called him Voldemort behind his back, because he was bald with a small nose and scars. Most hadn't even seen the man in the flesh as he rarely left his office. 

'"Kylo, this is Hux. He is First Order Academy's head boy. He will be here not only to show you around, but to also be a mentor and supervisor. I'm sure you'll both be very good friends in next to no time. Now if you don't mind, could you please go outside so I can have a little word with Hux."

Kylo stood up, head still looking down, and walked out of the room, hands balled into fists.  
"Sir, is this really necessary? Exam time is coming up soon, and I have to mentor this boy? Can't he find his own way round the school like everybody else?" Hux dared to challenge Snoke. 

"Do not question my orders, Hux. He's just come here from a school for the gifted, which had to close. He's a little troubled. I'm, let's say, close to his family, so he had been allowed to attend. Just show him around, make him feel comfortable. He has a bit of a temper, but you're a very calm lad so I'm sure you can deal with it."  
Snoke said, an undertone of anger buried beneath his calm demeanor. 

Terrified of losing his position of power, Hux bowed his head.  
"I'm sorry Headmaster. What dorm should I take him do?" he asked tentatively. 

"About that. I was wondering that he could perhaps stay in your room? You have a spare bed."  
Hux fought to conceal a scowl. His luck had been amazing when the number of private-dormers had turned out so that he got his own room. And now this kid has waltzed in and snatched it away from him! Hux thought it unbelievable.

"Yes sir." Hux nodded and took the mobile phones from his pocket and placed them on Snoke's desk. "I confiscated these from Dorm 8F, sir."  
"Thank you Hux. That will be all." dismissed Snoke, waving his hand towards the door. Hux swiftly left the room. 

He got his first proper look at Kylo in the hallway. He found him sitting on the floor, back against the wall and legs sprawled across the carpet. Hearing Hux approach, Kylo looked up, allowing Hux to get a better look at his face. He was slightly disappointed to find that Kylo was not in fact wearing eyeliner, as he had expected him pt be. He had a large nose, several small moles, full lips, and round ears hidden beneath thick black hair curling at his neck. 

"Hello, my name is Hux. Welcome to the First Order Academy! I hope you enjoy your time here. May I escort you to your room?" Hux said, trying to make polite conversation.  
Kylo's eyebrows dropped. "Oh god. Did they find the most annoying kid to stick me with?" he said, deadpan.  
Hux narrowed his eyes. "Well aren't you a handful?" he observed.  
"Sure am. Got kicked out of three schools before this one."  
What the hell? How did Snoke let this bozo come here? Hux thought, although he didn't voice his opinion.  
"Brilliant. Now get up and follow me." he ordered.  
Kylo stood, and Hux noticed he was around two inches taller than he was, with ridiculously broad shoulders. Clearly Hux would have to use other methods if he wanted to control this guy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux gets progressively more done with Kylo

"Where’s all your baggage?" asked Hux, eyes darting about the crooked corridor in search of a suitcase or two.

"Snoke said to leave all my shit in his office while you showed me round" came the almost monotone reply. Trying to suppress a sigh, the ginger turned and made his way along the passage. "Come on, then" he said curtly, signalling for Kylo to follow him. 

The headmaster’s office, the one they had just walked out of, was among the offices of the other important staff in a small sub-building of the school. 

The First Order academy was in three main sections: the largest was the main block, where a majority of classrooms were, plus a hall complete with a stage, a large gym and the canteen. The next were the dorms, common rooms (which Hux rarely ventured into except for when his duties made him) and the breakfast room where he had conversed with Phasma earlier. 

The final one was composed of teachers’ offices and living quarters. Rumour has it that there was a secret weed room where the staff got stoned in the summer hols. Hux thought it was utter nonsense. The surrounding area were mainly sports pitches, and a pine forest out the back.

The pair headed into the main building. Kylo was pretty quiet as Hux showed him a few of the maths classrooms. He slouched, hands in pockets. He didn’t really know what to say to the kid; and was dreading to share a room with him. They got to the hall, where a year seven drama class was taking place. 

Hux enjoyed drama; it was a bit of a guilty pastime of his. As much as he would like to take it for A level, he was a top scoring Maths and Physics student, and his family would think him strange to enjoy the works of Shakespeare and the like. 

He knew his school was lucky to have a large stage and tiered seating, complete with professional lighting, wings, dressing rooms and a volunteer stage crew. He could also see the wonder on Kylo’s face as he looked about, he knew in an instant that this kid would also like the subject. 

"Man, this is actually pretty cool. Is there a drama club that you know of?" he said quietly, as not to disturb the class taking place.  
"Well, yes. There is, in fact, an extra-curricular club. It runs on Tuesday and Thursday lunch times, and when play rehearsals start, they’ll be after lessons finish. I should know, because I attend it." said Hux, smiling to himself.  
He was almost beginning to warm up to this weird scene kid.

He watched as the faint smile on Kylo’s face dropped. "Oh, so if you go, it must be a bunch of dweebs who go. Was almost thinking about going. Hah…..no."  
"Oh, we’re all dweebs? You’ll fit right in then, wanker."  
"You calling me a wanker? Asshat!" Kylo retorted.

They carried on bickering, each trying to use the most British or American swears, depending on their nationality. They only stopped and turned round slowly to face the twenty or so children and teacher taking the class who were looking at them. 

The round eyed eleven year olds stared in dismay at perhaps one of the most feared students on the school (who most of them, particularly the boys had faced the wrath of) and some muscly goth, who appeared to be using atrocious language as they were learning about reading scripts. 

Before the teacher could say anything, they both darted out into the hallway.  
Hurrying along, Hux asked Kylo a few questions.  
"What year are you in?"  
"Well, I’m tenth grade, so that’d make me…uhm" He counted on his long figures as he tried to convert it into the British year groups.  
"-Year Eleven." Hux’s clear calculating mind solved the question quickly.

"Okay, jeez, I was getting to it, goody- two shoes!" Kylo infuriatedly half- shouted.  
"What subjects are you taking for GCSE? You know, other than Maths and science and all the compulsory ones?"

"First of all, it’s Math, not Maths," said Kylo, doing a ridiculously over the top English accent "Secondly, whatever exams you guys have to take, I don’t have to. Snoke lets me do what I like."  
This term is going to be grrrrreeat, Hux thought.  
"And also is your actual name Kylo Ren? I mean really? Were your parents asking for you to be mocked for that?" Hux muttered half-jokingly, before almost falling over after being shoved by the tall teen.  
Luckily for both of them, the main hall was deserted. Kylo had hold of Hux, and he leaned in close.  
"Just…just don’t talk about my family." It came out in an angry burst. But then softer "Please."  
Hux kept a mental note not to say anything about Kylo’s family, or his name, again. 

Making their way up a few flights of stairs, they looked around the art rooms, which Kylo loved. He inspected all the little pots of paint and marvelled at the paintings students had done in the corridors.

"This one’s great! But, obviously, I could do way better." His long fingers pointing to a bright oil canvas on the wall.  
After a mainly uneventful tour of the classrooms (bar Kylo sneakily trying to steal chemicals from the science labs), they stopped to look upon the sports pitches. There was a large football (soccer) pitch, tennis courts, and a large gym. 

Hux spotted Phasma in a year thirteen class booting a ball into the back of a net. She waved at him and mouthed you okay?  
'He’s a dipshit!' mouthed back Hux.  
She laughed and continued celebrating her goal with her classmates, running up and down the court with ease. 

"Who’s that?" Hux hadn't realised Kylo had crept up behind him, he thought he was looking at the tennis courts a few seconds ago "You actually have a friend? Wow." He snickered. ‘Or is she your girrrrrrrrrlfrrrrrrriend?"  
"Oh piss off! Honestly Snoke couldn’t have picked more of a twat for me to take under my wing!"  
"Tuh. And you think I want to be here? Hah."  
Without a word, Hux, for the second time within an hour, turned away and signalled for Kylo to follow him. 

***

"….And this was my room, but now I have to share." Hux huffed through gritted teeth.  
They’d made their way along the dorm block, him explaining to the new kid that in the main school, you had to share a loud dorm with about five to seven others your own age, but when you got into Sixth form, you ‘earned’ a two person room with an en suite. 

"Trust me, I’m not pleased about this arrangement either." replied Kylo, huffing and swinging the large trunk he’d collected from Snoke’s office over his shoulder.

Hux’s room was immaculate, to say the least. It was large, with two single beds to the left, each with a wardrobe, and a large window to the far end. Rather than a desk, there was a large grey surface covering the whole of the right wall for various projects students might do during the year. 

It acted as a dressing table too, so a rectangular mirror was installed across the middle, with a few shelves either side. A small flat screen television stood on a cabinet. 

This was only the basics that the school provided. Most pupils put up posters of their favourite celebrities or animals, or perhaps had a fluffy rug covering the cream carpet. Not Hux. The bed he slept in had a plain striped duvet, and the shelves that might have otherwise have been chock full of random nick-nacks were stacked with both textbooks and scripts. 

A few hair care products were neatly placed under the mirror. The only personal touches was a polaroid of incredibly fat ginger cat next to the mirror and another of a rarely smiling Hux when he was about ten, and his parents.

The unused bed was stripped, with just a mattress on top of the frame.  
Kylo made his way into the room, jumped onto the bed and unzipped his trunk. Out flew a torrent of black clothing, art supplies and other random shit Hux couldn’t even care to name. 

He carelessly threw on a dark coloured duvet with the words My Chemical Romance emblazoned on the top onto the bed. The clothes he didn’t bother putting onto hangers, he just threw them into some drawers at the bottom of his closet. 

Hux half watched while flicking through a physics textbook as he started placing objects that didn’t come under ‘clothes’ or ‘duvet’ on top of the surface.  
"Wait! No, no, I spread out all my homework on that thing! Put it all somewhere else!" Hux cried, dropping the book and running across the room. 

He started to pick up the objects, which included a toothbrush a Harry potter book and a speaker when Kylo stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. 

"Hey, remember this is our room now, not just yours, ass. How about I have this half of the room." (he gestured to the side furthest from the door, where his bed was) 

"And you have this side?" (he gestured to Hux’s bed, closer to the door)  
"We both get to use the TV though, and the bathroom too."  
Hux thought for a moment and stuck out his hand. 

"Deal."

Kylo shook it vigorously, his large hand almost covering the entirety of the pale, freckly one that belonged to his roommate. 

"Well, then. It’s almost break time. I usually eat my lunch then so I can do a club during the second break. It’s Monday and I usually go to an A-level revision session. I don’t know what you can do then. Probably come back to the dorm if you’d like, or explore the grounds. Maybe you can-"Hux gave a half smirk "-make some friends. Doubt it though. Next lesson after break I have to be back in class, and I’d say that you’d have to too. If I catch you out of class, being my roommate won’t stop me from enforcing a detention upon you."

"Fuck off. Anyway, I’m going to the cafeteria-"  
"-It’s called a Canteen in this country, Ren."  
‘Again. Fuck off dude. Chill."  
***  
Hux found himself sandwiched next to the impossibly tall Kylo and Phasma on a table in the canteen. Expecting to find his blone-haired friend alone on their table after getting his food (a plain egg mayo roll and a pain au chocolat), instead he found her and Kylo conversing together about something. 

He squeezed in between them in an affort to separate them but instead found himself ignored as the pair chatted. Kylo tore into a large Hamburger and a garlic bread while Phasma played with the remains of a pasta pot.  
He wasn’t even a day into the new half term and already he was completely done with this kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Written by Grace
> 
> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment to tell us what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nearly 4K words of angry banter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! Leave a comment to tell us what you think!

That lunchtime passed slowly and arduously, and Hux was sure he'd grind his teeth into his jaw from listening to Kylo drone on and on about one subject or another. Phasma, however, was both captivated and enthralled by Kylo's tall tales, always asking to hear more and eagerly leaning in over Hux's head. 

In the end, Hux gave up and migrated to the library, where he spent the rest of break glaring at Year Sevens and skimming through a copy of The Tempest. 

The remainder of the school day passed without any struggles as well, as Ren thankfully did not attend any of Hux's classes, being two years below. 

The rest of the evening was also peaceful, as Hux was already asleep before Kylo stumbled in at 3 o'clock in the morning, back from his adventures doing who knows what. 

Hux would soon find out.

***  
"Psst." whispered Kylo sharply. Hux illicit no response, being asleep and all.  
"Psst!" he repeated, louder this time. Hux remained unconscious, however his eyelids fluttered a fraction of an inch.  
"Oh, fuck this. Wake up!!" Kylo demanded, poking Hux's cheek.  
"What?" Hux demanded, sitting bolt upright.

Kylo smirked and reached into his pocket and brought out a furry, squirming mass.  
"I found a rat!" he stated, extending his palms so that Hux could get a better look.  
"What the fuck, Ren?" Hux spluttered in utter disbelief.  
"I found him outside, in the woods!" Kylo exclaimed excitedly.  
"You found a rat. In the woods. Outside." recalled Hux, deadpan.  
"Yes." Kylo replied, nodding.  
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Hux, getting out of bed and standing to face Kylo.

Kylo ignored the comment. "What should I call it?" he asked.  
"Don't call it anything, you're going to put that thing back where it came from!" demanded Hux, folding his arms. 

"I'll call it Hux." said Kylo, looking down at the rat adoringly.  
"What?" Hux repeated.  
"Well, you share very similar qualities."  
"I'm not carrying multiple diseases!" said Hux angrily.  
"You sure?" Kylo retorted.

Hux's tether snapped. He grasped the ugly creature from Kylo's hands and calmly walked over to he window. He prised it open and lifted his arm up to suspend the rat in the air when-

"Ow! Fuck!" he yelled, his namesake having sunk its sharp teeth into the heel of his hand, drawing blood. He dropped the onto the floor, where it scuttled over to Kylo who slid it back into the pocket of the uniform he was still wearing.

"The little fucker bit me!" Hux whined, showing Kylo the bite mark and blood trail.  
"Well you weren't being nice to him."  
"It's a fucking rodent."  
"So are you!"  
"Shut up for one second! What do I do, what if it's infected?" Hux began to panic, watching as the trickle of blood flowed from the puncture wounds.

"Your hand could fall off..." offered Kylo, tenderly stroking the rat.  
"Will you stop fondling that animal and help me please?" Hux demanded, gritting his teeth.  
"Fine, lets go to the nurse." Kylo drawled, turning down to face Hux.

"Kylo it's 3 o'clock in the bloody morning! She's asleep!"  
"Wake her up then!"  
"What am I going to say? Sorry miss, but my idiot of a roommate stole a rat from the woods and it bit me!" Hux said sarcastically 

With utmost solemnity, Kylo replied "Yes."  
"Fine. Fine fine fine." snapped Hux, smoothing down his hair and marching out of the room, in only pyjamas. 

Kylo followed behind, cooing to the stupid rat. Hux rolled his eyes as he cradled his hand, the pool of blood growing larger.  
The school was enveloped in almost complete darkness, only the moonlight cast down through the windows provided any light, displaying rectangular beams on the floor. 

Hux squinted as he tried his best to navigate through the long corridors of the school. He knew the plan like the back of his hand, but he had never had to journey through it at 3am, being tailed by a bumbling fool twittering away to a rat. 

They reached the nurse's room, which Hux was only able to identify because of the gold plaque on her door.  
Hux took a deep breath and rapped on the door sharply. No reply.  
"For fucks sake." he whispered, anger rising.  
He knocked again, with yet another period of silence.  
"Oh, move." said Kylo roughly, shoving Hux out of the way, and damn near breaking the door with his knocking. 

"What do you want?" came an indignant shout from inside as the short, stout woman who served as the school nurse opened the door with her face screwed up in disgruntlement.  
"I was bitten by a rat." blurted Hux, showing the nurse his punctured wound, the blood surrounding it slowly drying up. 

"How did you do that, at 3 o' bloody clock!" asked the nurse in disbelief.  
"Well, um, it was, uh, on my floor and I picked it up to put it outside and it, bit me?" Hux floundered to answer the question, clasping and unclasping his bloodstained hands.

"Fine. And who's this?" she said, gesturing to Kylo.  
"Oh, my roommate." Hux explained. Kylo gave a small smile, conveniently hiding the rat behind his back.  
"Come in, come in." said the nurse, making her way to her office next door and bustling the boys inside, Kylo still tactfully concealing the rat from her wide brown eyes. 

Four alcohol wipes, a plaster, a tetanus shot and thirty minutes later, she let the boys leave, yawning and grumbling. Hux thanked her sincerely, Kylo just smiled and tightened the grip on the squirming rat in his pocket. 

"How come didn't she question your uniform?" Hux inquired, his mood shifting from angry to inquisitive.  
"I don't know, ask her." Kylo shrugged.  
"I've asked her enough things tonight." Hux snapped, walking faster, in an attempt to beat Kylo to their room. Kylo, being a few inches taller, simply increased his gait slightly, making it impossible for Hux to go faster without making an effort. 

Hux huffed and pushed his whole body against the dorm door, opening it with a dull thud. Without another word, he slid under the covers and hoped that sleep would come quickly. 

It didn't, as Kylo took forever to settle down, going at a snails pace getting ready for bed, and then turning and twisting, causing a huge racket from his unusually crackly duvet. Hux had to restrain himself from snapping multiple times, although he did hint at his annoyance with frequent sighing, which he doubted Kylo could hear.

Hux woke up tired and pissed off, and remained that way for most of the day. He woke up later than usual, meaning he was caught in a stampede on the way to the shower and shoehorned into the breakfast hall. 

The dark circles beneath his eyes were enough indication for younger students to stay the hell away from him. 

He had a substitute teacher for first period, Maths, who was an ignorant cow and didn't know the first thing about teaching. Hux was forced to basically re-teach the whole lesson to the class, through hushed whispers and heavy sighs, as the teacher clearly had no idea what she was doing.

He hadn't even looked at Kylo that morning, he blocked him out as best as possible, ignoring his whines that he'd lost something, so he was startled to see him again at break, conversing with Phasma about some kind of sport. Hux was ready to walk straight past the both of them but Phasma reached out, tugged on his sleeve and dragged him down to sit next to her. Hux scowled and looked away.

"Hey you should come play dodgeball with us after classes." mused Kylo, excitedly.  
Playing with the plaster on his hand, Hux sharply replied  
"Fucking no."  
"Why not? It'll be fun!" encouraged Phasma, nudging his shoulder, which he jerked away.  
"With that beast? I don't think so." Hux snarled toward Kylo. Instantly he knew he'd said the wrong thing. Kylo's eyes swiveled downwards and he dropped his hands in his lap.  
"Armitage!" Phasma hissed, slapping Hux upside the head.  
"Don't call me that." moaned Hux.  
"Well don't call Kylo a beast, he's not that bad."  
"His fucking rat savaged me last night." 

"Wait why do you have a rat?" Phasma turned to Kylo.  
"I was just in the forest-"  
"You're not permitted to be in the forest after hours." drawled Hux, his Head Boy persona kicking in. 

"Whatever. Anyway, I was in the forest and this little rat came up to me and I have no friends here so-"  
"So you decided to bond with a disease riddled rodent." said Hux, deadpan.  
"Well, Snoke expected me to make friends with you, so..." Kylo shot back.  
"I'm so done with your shit, Ren. Who do you think you are?" Hux retorted, leaning on the table to see over Phasma, who decided it was time to intervene. 

"Okay guys, calm down. Shake hands. Settle your differences." she said coolly, and Hux knew better than to argue with her, and so extended his arm to Kylo.

Kylo got up and left without a word.

"What is his problem?" Hux sighed, watching him walk away.  
"He's American, they're all dramatic." Phasma dismissed.  
"True." Hux remarked with a nod.  
"You're still coming to play with us after school though." Phasma said.  
"No." Hux said shortly.  
"I'm making you go, even if I have to drag you by your badge."  
"Whatever. But you have to help out in the school play this year."

Phasma thought for a second and said: "You're on." and they shook on it.

Hux had only one lesson before his free periods and that was Physics, which was arduous to say the least. The person Hux was seated next to was a complete fool who couldn't grip any understanding of the subject at all. Hux risked a dentention to help her, head bent low and voice barely audible. In he end she finally did understand, and she thanked Hux profusely for it, something he wasn't used to people doing. 

Whilst leaving the lesson, Hux gritted his teeth and sighed at the prospect of having to see Ren again. However, on his way to the drama hall, he didn't catch a glimpse of him, although he did hear snippets of conversation about him, involving different rumors.  
"I heard he killed his dad."  
"Did you see that moving thing in his pocket? I bet he has a secret pet." remarked one boy.

'For fucks sake Ren can't you keep anything a secret?' Hux thought to himself, and a sour satisfaction washed through him at the thought of the consequences if Ren were caught.

He now had two hours to spare, and he knew exactly what to do with his time. He made his way to the drama hall, and checked it was empty. It was. 

He walked quickly to the stage, and pushed himself up onto it. 

This was the way he spent a lot of his time, surrounded by curtains and scaffolding and boxes of props. He sat directly in the middle of the stage, so that all of the tiered chairs were in his view, and there he remained, reading, studying, doing some homework.

Being surrounded by the ambience of the stage calmed Hux immensely. Drama was something his family frowned upon, and so he was not allowed to take it as a class, however he did attend the small extra-curricula drama club, which to be honest, was just kids playing games and messing around for an hour every Thursday. 

With five minutes until the end of school, Hux knew his time here was drawing to a close, so he scooted forward to the front of the stage and just.. drank in the setting of the hall, imagining all the things he'd do on it if his parents were more lenient and not so fixated on success. He closed his eyes and silently meditated for a couple of minutes before being violently awakened. 

"Ha! I knew you'd be in here, nerd. Come on, you have dodgeball to play." laughed Phasma, jogging up to the stage.

"I'm not going." said Hux snootily, looking down on her.  
"Yes you are." she demanded, jumping up so her knees rested o the stage. She took hold of Hux's waist and slung him across her shoulder like a sack of flour. 

"Phasma! Put! Me! Down! Now!" Hux yelled, pummeling her back with his fists.  
"Nope." she said, smiling whilst carrying him out of the hall.  
"Phasma please, people will see.." he whined, giving up on physically resisting.  
"I don't care." she said.  
"How are you even carrying me?" Hux questioned, blood rushing to his head and making him dizzy.  
"Because I obviously do more PE than you do." she remarked. 

"Please put me down." Hux implored, and she finally listened to him, leaning backwards and setting him down gently.  
"You're an arsehole."  
"Look who's talking, come on." Phasma said, walking a few paces behind Hux, ensuring that he didn't escape. 

At one point, Hux attempted to make a run for it, but Phasma saw him out of the corner of her eye and grabbed ahold of his collar and dragged him across the floor to the hall, scuffing his meticulously polished shoes.

"Phasma!" he yelled indignantly, earning some sniggers from the surrounding teenagers. 

They reached the cramped changing rooms and she slung him in there, barked, "Stay there." with a menacing glare, and returned five minutes later with his PE kit.  
"Get changed, and do not try to escape." she said.

Hux grumbled to himself while getting changed, muttering expletives about anybody he could think of, particularly Ren whom he was dreading to see. 

He shuffled timidly into the sports hall, it was one that was not so large, but sufficient enough to do its job. 

Hux spotted Kylo towards the back of the hall, chatting with Phasma. His hair was tied back in a small ponytail, which Hux didn't knew he could do.  
A few seconds after Hux had entered, Phasma saw him and decided it was time for the session of utmost torture to begin. 

Phasma was running the club, as apparently it earned her extra marks in her final exams, which Hux thought was just a ploy to be able to yell at students. 

She split the students into two halves, ten on each sides, and laid out red balls along the line that separated them. Hux looked over to see that Kylo was on the same team as him. He rolled his eyes and moved as far away from him as he could. 

The concept of dodgeball wa simple, don't get hit, but hit other people ruthlessly, as long as it was within shoulder-knee range. 

Once everything was set up, Phasma stood at the separation line and blew her whistle, sending a deafening screech echoing round the hall, making Hux wince.

Immediately, the other kids raced to get the balls, near enough savaging each other in the process.  
A huge shitstorm blew out, red balls flying everywhere and indignant shouts and whimpers emanating from the thrumming crowds. 

Hux felt a ball collide with his head, and he turned round to see none other than Kylo Ren, bent over laughing.  
"Kylo you.." Hux's choice curse word was drowned out by a roar from a kid on the other team who had sent a ball whistling towards the stomach of a person Hux assumed was a viable asset to his team. 

As he watched said person stalk off to join Phasma at the line, Hux was struck yet again, on the neck this time.  
"You're on my team." he yelled to Kylo.  
"I know!" Kylo shouted back, picking up yet another ball to launch.

A ball came sailing towards Hux from the other side, and as if my magic, he caught it solidly, catching the person out. Instead of using it as a defense, he decided to play Kylo at his own game and clobber him with it, throwing the ball at him with all his strength. It hit him in his forehead, and he stumbled back, dazed. 

"Ha!" Hux laughed, pointing at Kylo, who simply retrieved the ball from the floor and flung it toward Hux, missing this time, however the ball landed a hairs breadth from Phasma, and she glared at them both.

"Boys, behave, or I swear to god I will tape your hands together." Phasma warned.  
"You wouldn't." sneered Hux, his moment of snugness broken by another sneaky hit from Kylo. 

"That's it." said Phasma, grabbing the roll of masking tape the teachers used to mark out players positions. Hux saw this and immediately dived in front of a ball, which caught him on the shoulder, rendering him out.

"Oh no, what a shame I'm out..." Hux feigned disappointment, going over to the 'out' bench with a smirk. Phasma glared. 

Hux became increasingly bored during the rest of the session, watching all the screaming children moan and whine when they got out. He watched Ren in particular, he was impressed with his determination and accuracy when throwing the- 

Hux caught himself and redirected his attention to the large clock on the other side of the room, and he figured there were only five more minutes of the session left. He sighed in relief. 

He spent those five minutes peacefully watching Kylo pelt balls at the three kids on the other side, him being unassisted. In the end, one of them landed a sneaky shot when he was retrieving a ball, meaning the game was over.

Phasma called everyone towards her, thanked them for their participation and announced that they could go and get changed again. 'Oh joy.' Hux thought, gritting his teeth.

Back in the boys' changing room, it was quite cramped, meaning Hux had nowhere to go except next to Ren. Brilliant. 

Kylo didn't say anything at first, but sure decided to speak up when Hux took off his shirt.  
"Aah! I'm blind!" he exclaimed, covering his eyes.  
"What the fuck?" questioned Hux, buttoning up his school shirt.  
"You're so pale, dude, like Edward Cullen pale. Christ."  
Before Hux was able to respond, Kylo put his arm on the peg rail and said quietly, "Nah, Edward Cullen was actually hot."  
"You alright there gay boy?" Hux snapped, pulling up his tie.  
"Hux, you're the biggest closeted homosexual I have ever seen." Kylo remarked. The fact that that was correct struck fear into Hux, as he mumbled "Shut up." while lacing up his shoes.

"It's not like anyone cares, see WHO HERE WOULD CARE IF HUX WAS GAY?" Kylo yelled to the entire changing room.  
Groans of 'I don't give a shit' and 'no' filled the room. 

Bristling with anger, Hux snatched up his bag and slipped on his blazer and hurriedly left the room. He was just outside when Kylo came over, now fully dressed albeit neatly, and, Hux expecting him to apologise, stood still and crossed his arms. 

"Well?" he asked.  
"Can I sky some of your water? I'm really thirsty after that."  
"I'm sure you're also very thirsty after looking at Edward Cullen." smirked Hux. Kylo rolled his eyes and snatched the bottle of water that was poking out of Hux's satchel.

"I'm gonna do shots." he said, uncapping the bottle.  
"No.." said Hux but he was unable to stop Kylo from spilling half the bottle on the floor trying to pour some in the lid. He managed to do this, and tip it into his mouth, but not without spilling it all down his front.  
"Great job Kylo." mocked Hux, clapping his hands.  
Kylo just handed back the bottle, which Hux placed back in his bag.

They got to their room and immediately there were issues. "Hey can I borrow your math set? I need a ruler." asked Kylo, politely enough.  
Hux, past the point of caring, simply replied "Yeah, okay."  
"Where is it?" Kylo asked.  
"It's in my bag. Here you go." said Hux, retrieving the maths set and tossing it at Kylo, who caught it perfectly. 

"I was hoping you'd say 'it's in the closet' then I could've said 'bit like you then.'" Kylo admitted, smiling.  
"Why would a maths set be in the closet?" Hux asked in disbelief.  
"Maybe it's a lesbian." Kylo offered.  
"Also, why are you gendering my maths set? It's an inanimate object." Hux pointed out.

"Yeah whatever." came the flippant rely as Kylo tossed protractors and stencils alike onto the floor in search of the ruler.  
"Kylo! What are you doing?" exclaimed Hux, putting down the book he was reading. 

"What? I need a ruler!" he said defensively.  
"Yes but you don't throw the other tools, you animal!" he screeched.

"Wow, calm down." said Kylo, furrowing his brow. He went on to draw a series of straight lines on his paper, if they were in a pattern, Hux couldn't tell. 

When he was done, Kylo messily arranged the tools back into the tin box, and chucked it back to Hux.  
"Kylo, you're supposed to order them neatly, not just toss them in." moaned Hux.  
"Oh calm down will you." sighed Kylo, watching Hux piece the maths set together again, tool by tool.

"Hang on I need the ruler again." stated Kylo, going over to Hux's bed and rifling through the maths set to retrieve the ruler again.  
"Okay I have reached the end of my tether. First you bring in a rat, which where is that by the way? And then you embarrass me in public, then you totally disrespect both my personal space and property." Hux stood up and said firmly.

"Wow, okay." Kylo said.  
Hux said nothing, but opening a drawer from his bedside chest, he pulled out a roll of black tape, that he wasn't sure how he'd acquired. 

"What are you.." Kylo trailed off, watching Hux carefully split the room in half with his hand.

Hux went over to the two joined wardrobes, and reaching up on his toes, he placed one edge of the tape on the very top of them. He extended the tape downwards, smoothing it down as he continued.  
He went all the way along the floor, but turned when he was around ten centimeters from the counter. He cut off the tape and laid down a new piece from the floor to the door. 

"There. Now you can't come into my space, and I can't come into yours." said Hux, a little flushed.  
"How am I going to use the bathroom? You have the en suite!" complained Kylo.  
"There's toilets downstairs..." said Hux sarcastically.  
"Yes but you've left me like no space to get to the door." Kylo whined, trying to get through and failing. He hopped up onto the counter, causing it to groan ominously.  
"Get down!" screeched Hux.  
"Why?"  
"Because you're built like a fucking refrigerator, and you're going to break that counter!" he yelled, sending Kylo into peals of laughter. 

"This next year is going to be fun, isn't it?" Kylo remarked, sarcastically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Written by Poppy
> 
> Any comment is valued, especially constructive criticism. What else would you like to see in this story?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux is not a fan of anthropomorphic fruit

That Saturday, Hux was not woken by having a rodent shoved in his face. Instead the was woken up by a children's show.  
"BANANAS IN PYJAMAS ARE COMING DOWN THE STAIRS-"  
Hux sat bolt upright in his bed and looked to his left. There was Kylo, propped up on his pillows with the TV remote in his hands, sleepily gazing up at the small TV which rested on a raised part of the counter. It was spilling sickeningly bright colours out of the screen and the volume was very loud.  
"BANANAS IN PYJAMAS ARE COMING DOWN IN PAIRS-"  
What on Earth? Hux was just bewildered as he stared at Kylo, then the screen, the bright images portraying two anthropomorphic fruit hunting down some badly rendered teddy bears. He remembered that the loud volume was probably waking up the entire school so he spoke up.  
"Could you please turn it down?"  
"BANANAS IN PYJAMAS ARE CHASING TEDDY BEARS" the monotone British woman still sang  
"REN HONESTLY THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

Kylo slowly turned to Hux, no sign of a smile on his pale face, lifted up the remote, then slowly pointed to the tape on the floor. He smirked and began to turn up the volume to at least sixty, which made their eardrums rattle. 

Hux had no other option than to throw his pillow at his roommate.  
"OKAY OKAY ILL STOP! Fucking hell." came the angry response from Kylo.

The TV turned off with a beep.  
The rest of the school, or at least their corridor, was awake. It was eight rooms of two. Sixteen people.   
"The ginger one was louder than the TV!" Came a muffled shout. Hux couldn't determine exactly who it was, but his money was on Phasma.  
Hux strode to the door, poked his head into the hallway and bellowed   
"SORRY!"  
"What?" replied probably-Phasma.  
"IT'S REN'S FAULT. BLAME HIM" he managed to scream even louder.  
***  
Three hours later, Hux made his way to the hall. Auditions for that year's school play were taking place and he hoped to get a part. Part of him hoped that somehow Kylo suddenly couldn't read all the notices that had been put up on walls for the past few days advertising them. 

Drama was something Hux enjoyed and didn't want to be sharing his precious drama time with the emo simpleton. It was his first weekend at the place, so perhaps he was using his free time elsewhere.

A cluster of students were gathered outside the doors, which had not opened yet. He emitted an audible groan when he spotted Ren, who was skulking about on the outskirts of the group. As he walked up to the group, they all turned their heads and frowned. 

Obviously words had gotten out about the Bananas in Pyjamas incident. Or maybe they'd all been woken up by it at five a.m. They all collectively turned around and shook their heads at his roommate, who shrugged and responded with "I couldn't sleep, so what?

School tradition had it that no one actually knew what that year's play was going to be until the day of the auditions. The drama teacher, Miss Youens, was highly enthusiastic as she bustled her way through the crowd and unlocked the doors to the hall. There they gathered on the tiered seating (Hux choosing one on the second row, trying not too seem overly keen).

Kylo had run right to the top and sat in the corner presumably so he could look down upon everyone.

Miss Youens addressed them.  
"Good morning everyone, and congratulations for getting up early on a Saturday for this! Shows you're all very keen! Looks like we have a few of our new students here!"  
She gestured to a clump of year sevens, some of whom Hux recognised to be from the lesson he and Ren had interrupted on Monday.

"And of course we have some of our oldest students here for their final play! Can we all have a big 'ahhhh' for that?"  
A few students gave a half-hearted 'ahh' back.  
"So me and the crew have decided that this year's performance, taking place a week after Christmas break, is going to be Romeo and Juliet!"

This announcement was answered by some clapping. Hux himself was fond of Shakespeare, though Romeo and Juliet wasn't his favourite. He thought he would audition for the part of Romeo. 'Go big or go home' he thought. 

The auditions went so that one by one, a student would go onto the stage and perform a monologue that they knew or had learnt from any play or film. They would say which parts they would like to go for in front of Miss Youens and her 'crew'. 

The crew were a yearly changing group of the teacher's favourite year twelve A-level students. This year they were a group that particularly disliked Hux because of his head boy status and who also had a knack for practical jokes. In September, before Ren arrived, they had put pins on Hux's seat during drama club, and in October had slipped a note under his door telling him there were extra sessions of drama before school at six o'clock. Hux went to the hall to find it completely empty. He thought of them as utter fools. 

What was worse was that Miss Youens left it up to them and them only to cast the play because 'she trusted them to be mature adults.' Last year's lot were decent and cast Hux as a lost boy in Peter Pan, maybe because they were in the same year group as him at the time. But now he knew this group wouldn't let him get a good part.  
But still, he'd try. 

"What's your name?"  
"Mitaka, Miss."  
"And what year are you in?"  
"Year Seven, Miss."   
Hux waited in a line to the side of the stage for his audition. The year seven, who was only eleven, shook like a leaf on the stage, half blinded by the lights. In front, on a table like a panel of judges, sat the teacher and the five crew members. 

"What parts would you like to audition for?"   
"I don't really know. Perhaps the prince, or Romeo? Maybe Lord Montague?" he piped as the judges scribbled down notes.

"Could you please give us your speech then?"  
Trembling, the small boy started his monologue.  
One audition drifted into the next. Hux was near the back of the queue Kylo further behind. There were at least thirty people in front. After what seemed like forever, the pupil in front of him went onto the stage.  
"My name is Thanisson and this is my first play audition."  
"And it looks like you're in year seven!" Miss Youens spoke as if she were talking to a six year old  
"I'm bloody eighteen years old! I'm in my last year!"   
Thanisson was in the same maths class as Hux and they were on good terms, but not exactly friends. He did look extraordinarily young, though he was quite tall. 

When it came to Hux's turn, he got the same twist in his stomach that he usually did when coming on stage.   
'It's normal for this to happen' he thought to himself.   
"Good morning Hux!" The teacher did know him well, and often voiced her disappointment in him not taking drama for GCSE or A-level. 

"And who would you voice interest in playing?"  
"Romeo, obviously. But I wouldn't say no to Paris or Mercutio." He tried not to hear the slight snickers being emitted from the crew or several of the auditionees. 

"I thought you'd like to play a banana, after what happened this morning!"called someone. It was Phasma, with a grin on her face. She'd only just arrived, and was standing with the people who would like to help out as stage hands (she wasn't into acting at all).   
He gave her a quick glare and then said "Should I start my monologue now?"  
They gave a few curt nods and he began. 

"Long ago, the great Frith made the world. He made all the stars, and the world lived among the stars. Frith made all the animals and birds, and, at first, made them all the same. Now, among the animals was El-ahrairah, the Prince of Rabbits. He had many friends, and they all ate grass together. But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplied and eating as they went. Then, Frith said to El-ahrairah: 'Prince Rabbit, if you cannot control your people, I shall find ways to control them.' But El-ahrairah would not listen and said to Frith: 'My people are the strongest in the world.'  
This angered Frith, so he determined to get the better of El-ahrairah. He gave a present to every animal and bird, making each one different from the rest. When the fox came and others, like the dog and cat, hawk and weasel, to each of them, Frith gave a fierce desire to hunt and slay the children of El-ahrairah  
Then, El-ahrairah knew that Frith was too clever for him, and he was frightened. He had never before seen the Black Rabbit of Death.

'My friend,' said Frith, 'Have you seen El-ahrairah? For I wish to give him a gift.' 'No, I have not seen him.' So Frith said, 'Come out, and I will bless you instead.' 'No, I cannot. I am busy. The fox and weasel are coming. If you want to bless me, you will have to bless my bottom.' 'Very well, be it so.' 

And El-ahrairah's tail grew shining white, and it flashed like a star. And his back legs grew long and powerful. And he tore across the hill, faster than any creature in the world. 'All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you...digger, listener, runner. Prince with the swift warren. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people will never be destroyed.'"

Hux looked up at the judges. He was proud of how he'd done, and that he's not forgotten any lines. Most of the crew were smirking, but Miss Youens was clapping enthusiastically. 

The auditionees were all staring at him, in a both Wow-that-was-good and a the-head-boy-just-did-a-monologue-about-bunnies fashion. Even Kylo, who had mainly been staring at his phone the entire time, had looked up. When they caught eye contact, he gave something resembling a thumbs up and a smile.

Passing the back of the judge table on his way to sit next to Phasma and some of the other auditionees, Hux noticed that most of the year twelves had drawn dicks under his name. One had even taken the care to add some ginger pubic hair with an orange highlighter.

Phasma nudged him with her elbow (which hurt) whispered "Good job, mate. Loving the bunny speech there.", to which Hux replied, "Watership Down is a classic novel and film!" In an angry hiss.

When it was Kylo's turn, he lumbered onto the stage and mumbled "Hi, I'm Kylo Ren and I'm in grad- year eleven."

Miss Youens, partly fascinated by the American accent, said "Who would you like to audition for today?" 

"I'm going to go for Romeo."

"Very well! Give us your monologue then!"   
"It's from a book I enjoy."  
"Not a problem!"

Kylo cleared his throat.

"And I'm going to that world beyond the Aurora, because I think that's where all the Dust in this universe comes from. You saw those slides I showed the Scholars in the retiring room. You saw Dust pouring into this world from the Aurora. You've seen that city yourself. If light can cross the barrier between the universes, if Dust can, if we can see that city, then we can build a bridge and cross. It needs a phenomenal burst of energy. But I can do it. Somewhere out there is the origin of all the Dust, all the death, the sin, the misery, the destructiveness in the world. Human beings can't see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That's original sin. And I'm going to destroy it. Death is going to die."

Everyone in the hall was silent. The quote was spoken almost perfectly, Kylo only slipping up a couple of times. It was almost enchanting for Hux to watch him. The accent was a great help, he thought. He also wondered what book it was from. He was interrupted by the teacher standing on her chair and facing the auditionees. 

"Congratulations all of you, you were wonderful! I'm leaving it up to my year twelves here (she gestured to the Crew) to cast you all, but I trust them to make the right decisions. The cast list will be on the drama notice board next Wednesday, and rehearsals will be every Thursday and Monday evening. Good luck, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!" 

And with that, students chattering, the hall cleared. Hux wanted to talk to Kylo (which surprised him, he didn't even like the brat), but lost him in the crowd. 

Instead, he bumped in to Phasma. It was hard NOT to bump into her, as she was stood in the middle of the corridor talking to Shalissa, the head girl, her roommate. Shalissa had also auditioned for the play, saying some over-dramatic speech from movie he did not care for. 

Despite having joint school responsibilities, they rarely talked. She was also a lot more popular than him, well liked by the crew, mainly because her brother, Hugo, was one of them.

"Kylo was a lot better than I thought!" Phasma said. "He actually has other emotions than whiny and sad!" 

Shalissa piped up in her high voice "He was rather good, wasn't he? I think he's going to be picked for Romeo." She gave a subtle look at Hux to tell him 'I hope you won't be Romeo, ugh.'

Back in his room, Hux was surprised not to find Kylo there. He spent his day doing revision for his exams. They may be all the way away in June, but he thought it best to be prepared. 

He enjoyed the peace he had not had for the past few days. In fact, Kylo didn't come in, dishevelled and covered in dirt, until nine o'clock, when the curfew was supposed to start. 

"And where have you been?" Hux demanded.

"Out." Was the only reply he got. 

"You smell. Just go in the bathroom, shower, and don't cross the bloody black tape!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and pointed to the bathroom door. Kylo lumbered in there.

It was only when it was completely pitch dark, lights off, both in their pyjamas in bed, that Hux spoke about the auditions. They weren't looking at each other, only the ceiling, which was but a dark blue shadow. 

"Your audition. It was...good." He actually very much enjoyed it but didn't want Kylo to know that.

"So was yours." He was almost shocked to receive a compliment back. "What film was it from?"

"Well it was originally from a book called Watership down, a book about folklore and adventure. But the story was too long for me to learn, so I took it from the film adaption from the 1978 film, very well worth watching."

"I've heard of the film. Notorious for scaring the shit out of children, isn't it?" After a pause "Mine was from the Golden Compass, but I think over here it's called Northern Lights or something? It's very scientific, deep and philosophical. As for the movie, it isn't very well worth watching, maybe except for the special effects."

There was an almost, but not quite, awkward silence. They could both hear one another breathing in the silence. Well, almost silence. 

Someone was blasting Bananas In Pyjamas in a room along the hallway, but not quite as loudly as Kylo had played it that morning. Maybe it was revenge, or maybe someone wanted to watch some quality midnight telly about talking fruit. Whatever it was, it didn't disturb their silence until Ren broke it.

"Goodnight, loser." 

That was the most affection he'd been shown in a while, perhaps other than Phasma's well-meaning jokes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -written by Grace
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment to tell us what you think, and constructive criticism is always appreciated as well


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux discovers something both horrifying and hilarious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!

The days slid past as Hux learned that he would have to put up with Kylo Ren, whether he wanted to or not. School ran smoothly, he was staying on top of his subjects, despite Ren's efforts to distract him, his favourite one being to hide the rat in Hux's wardrobe, in plain sight, and when caught, protest 'I didn't cross the line!' with a smug expression. Hux tried and failed many times to defy this. 

It was around 4:00 on the following Wednesday when they would receive their parts for the play. Both Hux and Kylo raced upstairs to the drama notice board, where a substantial crowd had already gathered. Kylo nudged his way through, however was not met with sighs and sharp comments, rather smiles and congratulations.  
"Oh, wow!" he remarked, seeing his name at the very top, beside Romeo. 

Hux rolled his eyes, secretly disappointed, and stood on tiptoe to see where his name was. At he very bottom. Beside Verona Resident #4. 

Hux bowed his head, turned on his heel and swiftly left, moving quickly down the stairs. 

He went back into his room, and closed the door. Fighting to seem unbothered, he selected a random piece of homework, one that wasn't due for two weeks, and completed it within ten minutes, desperately trying to be indifferent.

However he could not deny it. He was morose over the fact that his perfectly rehearsed audition had earned him the title of Verona Resident #4. Invasive thoughts attacked, telling him he was useless and not good enough, echoing the words he'd heard too many times already. He pushed these away with excuses, such as, the Year Twelves disliking him and therefore lumping him with a bad part. 

It was around twenty minutes until Kylo burst in the door, mood bright and arms swinging.  
"Don't speak to me." snapped Hux, not looking up from his already finished homework.  
"Aww, is someone upset?" mocked Kylo, in a soft voice.  
"Shut your fucking mouth, emo whore." Hux growled, his eyes widened and filled with incandescence.  
"Calm down, Ginger, no need to get so... snappy" said Kylo, putting his hands up in defense. 

************

"You do know they only picked you because you're a Yank." said Hux, attempting to transfer some of his bitterness into Kylo.

It was long after bedtime, but Hux's anger had prevented him from sleeping, and Kylo never seemed to rest.

"I'm aware of this, yes."  
"It's not because you're talented or anything."  
"Oh, okay, Mr Your Audition Was Good." retorted Kylo.  
Hux bit his lip.  
"Look.. I'm, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said." Hux swallowed his pride.  
"I know. You're just upset." reasoned Kylo.  
"You can understand why though? I mean, I've been here seven years and you've only just turned up." said Hux.  
"I get it." said Kylo, muffled through a duvet.  
"And, I didn't mean what I called you."  
"Oh, the emo whore thing? That was actually funny." said Kylo, and Hux could tell that he smiled, although he couldn't see. 

"Hey, tomorrow, could we actually try to be nice to each other?" Hux suggested.  
"Yes. Definitely." assured Kylo, and not another word was spoken.

********** 

"KYLO REN YOU PIECE OF SHIT WHERE ARE MY FUCKING SHOES?" demanded Hux, storming around the room.  
"WHY DON'T YOU TRY LOOKING FOR THEM, ASSHAT." came the indignant response.  
"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOUR FUCKING RAT HAS CHEWED THEM AGAIN..." Hux trailed off, as he spotted the shoes exactly where he left them, tucked neatly under his bed.  
"Never mind." he said meekly, earning a smirk from Kylo.  
"Shut up."  
"I didn't say anything." Kylo teased.  
"Just shut up."  
Hux became flushed, quickly tied his shoes and fled the room. 

It was the first rehearsal for the play that afternoon, from 3:30 to around 5:00, and it consisted of Miss Youens having a borderline breakdown from excitement, Kylo looking utterly lost, and Hux scowling to the side. 

They were each given scripts and told to highlight their lines. Half of Kylo's booklet was a fluorescent shade of yellow, whereas all of Hux's was pristine white. His only action was to stand around and act surprised when the fight between Romeo and Tybalt broke out. 

Shalissa, who had received the part of Juliet, seemed to be overly invested in Kylo, asking Miss Youens if they'd have private rehearsals together, and batting her abnormally long eyelashes at Kylo incessantly. To Hux's surprise, Kylo didn't pick up on these advances, talking to Shalissa as you would a stranger. 

After they left rehearsal, Hux pulled Kylo away before she could get to him. They reached their room without speaking, the air still stiff with envy, disguised with a smile. 

Hux, however, did lighten up a little as Kylo showed him a video of a raccoon eating a bunch of grapes, which made him smile for the first time in days. 

The time reached six o'clock, and Hux was halfway out the door when he leaned back and said; "Are you coming down for dinner?"  
Kylo replied with "I'm not hungry, plus there's something I have to finish."  
Hux didn't question this, only said "Fine, but don't you dare put that rat anywhere near my stuff."  
"I won't." 

Hux returned from dinner to find Kylo sprawled on the floor, scrawling into a large black sketchbook, his rat scuttling along his back, although Hux wasn't sure what he was drawing. He went over to his bed, sat down and flicked through a novel, not really paying much attention to it.

Kylo's phone emitted an annoying pinging sound, and he rushed to check it. Hux shook his head, believing that smartphones where totally unnecessary, and only distracted people from the real world. He'd expressed this to Kylo before, earning him the nickname of 'Grandpa', so he never spoke of it again. 

"Kylo smiled at the screen before looking up and asking:  
"Hey, Ginge?"  
"What?" said Hux, through gritted teeth  
"Do you know what snapchat is?"  
"I've heard of it, but I don't know what it does." said Hux, putting down his novel.  
"It's a social media site where you can send funny pictures to your friends, but they only last a certain amount of time." Kylo explained.  
"Interesting." said Hux, getting down from his bed and scooting to his side of the tape.

"They also have filters you can put on the pictures. Do you want to try?" Kylo laughed, although he disguised it as a cough.  
"Okay." agreed Hux, having nothing better to do.  
Kylo sat cross legged, and pointed his phone at Hux. He swiped on the screen for a few seconds before looking back at the ginger and saying:  
"Okay now say something for the camera."  
"What?" Hux questioned.  
"Just say anything." Kylo said, a chuckle escaping.  
"Okay. Um. Well, Kylo Ren is a complete twat and I would appreciate if he'd stop putting feral animals in my fucking wardrobe." said Hux. 

As soon as he was done, Kylo burst into a fit of laughter, rolling backwards on the floor.  
"Oh my fucking god that was amazing." he laughed, brushing a tear from his eye.  
"I'm literally crying!" he exclaimed, pressing the screen a few more times.  
"What? What is it?" Hux demanded.

Kylo said nothing, only turned the phone round so that Hux could see what was on it. It had recorded Hux's words, but completely removed his nose, making him look both funny and terrifying. 

"Give me that." Hux demanded, and Kylo passed over the phone. Hux swiped across the bottom of the screen, observing the different filters that snapchat had to offer. 

A notification displayed at the top of the screen caught Hux's eye. It read:  
Twitter: GeneralGinger uploaded an image. 

Without realising what he was doing, Hux tapped the notification, which redirected him to Twitter. He knew what it was because Phasma had it and always talked about funny things she'd seen on it.

The page loaded, and Hux was immediately met with an extremely zoomed in picture of himself, taken by God knows who. Hux furrowed his brow, and scrolled down the page. What he saw made his jaw drop. A whole account was dedicated to this, and as he scrolled further, he found tweets written by someone who was pretending to be him. Just some of them included;

'RT this to receive one free detention'

'Cheekbones almost as sharp as my personality'

'So deep in the closet I'm finding Christmas presents'

At first, Hux's reaction was shock, squinted eyes and raised brows, but soon turned into one of disgust, shaking hands and a churning stomach. 

"What's wrong?" asked Kylo, inching closer, noticing Hux's discomfort.  
"What the fuck is this?" Hux demanded, showing Kylo the phone. 

"Shit. Fuckfuckfuck." hissed Kylo, snatching back the phone.  
"What?" Hux spluttered.  
"You weren't meant to see that." said Kylo, quickly.  
"What, the entire account dedicated to mocking me?" said Hux, his voice taking on an edge.  
"Oh, don't say it like that, it's only a bit of fun."  
"Yes, a bit of fun that makes me look like a complete fool, hidden from me for how long?" his tone now bubbling with anger.

"About three years, give or take a few months." said Kylo, his attention diverted back to his phone, rapidly typing.  
"Who runs it?" Hux demanded.  
"I'm afraid that's classified information." said Kylo, without looking up.  
"Excuse me?"  
"Classified, meaning it's a secret." said Kylo.  
"I know what classified means, you donkey, I mean why is it a secret?" said Hux only being able to come up with a half assed insult out of pure shock. 

"In case Snoke finds out." said Kylo, pointing out the obvious.

"I can't believe this." said Hux, looking lost. 

Kylo stopped responding and hissed under his breath.  
"Shit she's not responding." he whispered. Hux sat, stunned into silence as Kylo whispered "pick up pick up." several times in rapid succession.

Apparently he got a response because he gasped and jumped up.  
"Yeah, the competitions off, he found out."  
A muffled yell came from the other side of the call.  
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I let him on snapchat to get a video to put on it." said Kylo, completely disregarding Hux's existence.  
"Who is that?" demanded Hux.  
Kylo put his hand over the bottom of his phone and mouthed 'Phasma' in Hux's direction.  
"Wait, she knows about this?" Hux said, standing up. 

He rushed to the door and pulled it harshly open. He strode across the corridor to Phasma's room and barged his way inside.  
"What are you going to tell him- oh, hi." said Phasma, halting her phone call to notice Hux fuming at her door.

Her roommate, Shalissa glanced over at Hux with a look of disgust.  
"Don't slam my door like that, dickhead." she snapped.  
"Oh, go cry about it to your daddy. I'll let you pick which one." Hux shot back, causing Shalissa's eyes to widen to a size Hux thought impossible.  
"Holy shit, Hux where did that come from?" asked a stunned Phasma. Hux was never one to make personal remarks.

"His arse, where he also keeps his twelve foot stick." said Shalissa through gritted teeth.  
"Ooh, that was a good one. You should put that on a certain Twitter account, Phasma." Hux swivelled his attention to her.  
"Gotta go, bye." Phasma said quickly, and hung up on Kylo.

"How did you know I ran it?" said Phasma.  
"It's so obvious it hurts." replied Hux, rolling his eyes. Phasma said nothing.

"How did Kylo know about the account?" Hux asked, pressingly.  
"I thought he'd've told you, him being your boyfriend and everything." quipped Shalissa.  
"Can you maybe shut your mouth for five seconds?" snapped Hux.

Phasma sighed and held up her hands.  
"Okay, I admit it. I run the General Ginger account, and people, including Kylo help out, they send in pictures and ideas for tweets. There, I said it." she said.  
"How many people know about it?" asked Hux.  
"The whole school virtually. A couple teachers follow it. And my dad."  
"Your dad?"  
"How do you think I got so many pictures of you as a kid?"

Hux and Phasma had been friends since they were around seven, and their fathers were great friends, and met up frequently.

"I can't believe you'd do something like this behind my back." said Hux, sitting down, back against the wall.

"If only you knew the things people really did behind your back, Ginge." Shalissa said flippantly.  
"Do you ever stop talking?" said Hux, sarcasm dripping through his words.  
"Same goes for you." she replied.

"It was just a bit of fun at first, but then it gained a ton of followers and people started sending things in and it just spiralled out of control, I guess." explained Phasma, bowing her head in shame. 

There was a long pause.

"Can I use your phone for a second?" Hux asked quietly. 

Phasma said nothing, just unlocked the phone and passed it over.  
Hux swiped on the screen and began to type something. When he was done, he handed the phone back and awaited a response.

"Going out with my husband Snoke, just hope the stick lodged up my ass doesn't get in the way?" Phasma read, then looked at Hux, confused. 

"I thought it might be funny to post, as you all joke about it anyway." was all Hux said. 

"Oh my god." smiled Phasma, breaking into a huge smile. Shalissa just rolled her eyes.  
"I have to tell Kylo." she said, tapping away at her phone again. 

After a few seconds, Kylo burst into the room, almost squashing Hux behind the door. At the sight of him, Shalissa immediately sat up and made an attempt to fix her already perfect hair. 

"I'm proud of you, Ginge." Kylo said, sitting beside him. Kylo pulled his phone from his pocket and turned on the camera. He smiled and snapped a picture, depicting him and Hux, the latter scowling at the sight of him. 

"Oh yeah, what's your number?" Kylo asked Hux.  
Hux sighed and recited it, and Kylo added it to his contacts under 'Ginge'.  
"You should really add it under 'bae' or 'my everything', it's more romantic." chuckled Phasma.  
"Although, I believe true love is being able to be mean to them and call them names and for them to not care." she said.  
"Excuse me? I'm mean to him because he's a fucking dick. Also, I'm not gay!" said Hux frustratedly. 

At this comment, both Kylo and Phasma turned to him with deadpan, 'you-can't-fool-us' expressions.

"I'm not' Hux reiterated, to which Phasma and Kylo responded with "Okay then." 

They spent the next ten minutes talking about the account, and Hux admitted it was very funny, and he swore not to snitch about it. 

"Also, what was this competition Kylo was talking about?" Hux remembered.  
"I was going to pay someone £100 to stick mugshots of you all around the school." Phasma admitted.  
"And I was going to do it, until you found out." piped up Kylo.  
"You are the worst roommate ever." said Hux, shaking his head.  
"He's probably a good boyfriend though." Phasma said under her breath, but loud enough for Hux to hear.  
"Phasma!" he hissed, but it came out sounding whiny. 

"We should be getting back." said Kylo, standing up.  
"Wait, don't go!" exclaimed Shalissa, reaching out to Kylo. 

Kylo turned round to respond, but Hux, knowing Shalissa's intentions all too well, pushed him out the door and followed suit. However, he opened it again a second later to stick his hand into the room and flip off both Shalissa and Phasma, Phasma because of the whole Twitter account, although he no longer cared, and Shalissa because she was just a bitch.

It was around two am in the morning when Hux was awoken by Kylo. He sat up, to see Kylo, throwing pieces of scrunched up paper at him, from his side of the room.  
"What is it?" whispered Hux.  
"I can't play Romeo." said Kylo, sounding extremely nervous. 

Hux sat up and switched on his bedside lamp. It illuminated the room, making Kylo visible. He had his hair tied back and he was biting at a hangnail, his brow furrowed. 

Hux felt pity cloud over him and he went over to his side of the tape.  
"Why not?" he approached.  
"I'll never be able to remember all that Shakesperian language!" said Kylo, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Hux took a deep breath. 

"Don't worry about it. It seems like a lot now, but by the time the play comes round, you'll be able to do it in your sleep." he reassured.

"Will you help me?" asked Kylo, looking up at Hux. His warm, brown eyes met with Hux's frosty blue ones and Hux felt compelled to help him.

He nodded and said. "Of course."  
"Thank you." said Kylo, placing his hands in his lap. 

"Since it looks like neither of us is going to get any sleep, would it help if we went through some now?" asked Hux, to which Kylo only nodded, and went to retrieve his script.

*********  
"See, it's all this, extra wording and 'th's' that I don't get." explained Kylo.  
"Well, when you think about it, they're speaking normally, but with a bit of padding. In order to memorise it, try translating it into modern English, to help you understand what they're getting at." said Hux, in a way that was neither snide nor condescending. He was actually helping Kylo Ren with something. 

"Like, 'sin from my lips? O, trespass sweetly urg'd' give me my sin again!' would mean 'I met you three minutes ago and we just kissed let's go smash in my car' in real life?" Kylo suggested, selecting one of Romeo's line from the script.

"Not really what I had in mind, but if it works for you..." nodded Hux.  
"Thank you so much, I feel better now." said Kylo, looking down and smiling.  
"You're welc-" Hux was cut off by a crushing hug from Kylo, pinning his arms to his sides and cutting off his oxygen supply.  
"Can't... breathe.." he choked. Kylo quickly released him and jumped into bed.  
"Goodnight, Hux." he said, using his real name for the first time in ages, making Hux smile as he switched off the light. 

5:30 am came and Hux went through his cast iron routine, whereas Kylo woke up at ten to seven and sort of stumbled around a bit before getting ready. He was just about to leave to have breakfast, and Hux (having already eaten) stopped him. 

"Can I please sort out your tie before you go? It's so short." he pleaded.  
"That's what she said." snorted Kylo, but he didn't object. 

Hux gestured for Kylo to come up to the tape, where he reached up, undid the tie, laid it flat under Kylo's collar, and began to weave it into a convoluted knot, although it looked pristine when he edged it up Kylo's collar. 

Kylo thanked him, and grabbed his bag.  
"Also, you have to tuck your shirt in and please brush your hair-" he was interrupted by the slamming of the door as Kylo swiftly evaded the lecture.

Hux only shook his head and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Written by Poppy
> 
> Thank you for reading, make sure to leave a comment to tell us what you think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment to tell us what you think! :-)


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